


things you said when you were scared

by caseyvalhalla



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-12
Updated: 2017-08-12
Packaged: 2018-12-14 12:44:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11783418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caseyvalhalla/pseuds/caseyvalhalla
Summary: It's over now.





	things you said when you were scared

**Author's Note:**

> So this was a prompt fill but I felt like it was long enough and relevant enough to warrant its own post rather than going in the Chocolate Box. Especially considering how the manga is going lately.
> 
> For the prompt "things you said when you were scared" for @the-smallest-kurapika on tumblr

The pain came to him through a haze that was probably due to blood loss.  It made his thoughts thick and syrupy, his senses dull, the feel of the cell phone clutched in his hand faint and cottony.  His thumb slid over the screen, almost independently of the rest of him, pulling up and sending a message he’d prepared months ago and left on the home screen, easily accessible with a single touch.

“Hold still.”  Leorio’s voice was just as muted as everything else, unrestrained worry crackling around the edges, drawing it taut, but it arrived muffled in Kurapika’s ears along with the pressure against the wound in his side and the frantic movements bumping against his elbow, his stomach, his hip.  Leorio hovered over him in a mass of color when Kurapika opened his eyes, just enough to see, to know his presence wasn’t imagined.

“It’s over now,” he mumbled, tongue thick in his mouth, and the kaleidoscope of Leorio paused for an instant.

“Yes, it’s over.”  His voice was more hushed than the missive to be still; thoughtful, a little hopeful, perhaps.  “You don’t have to do this anymore.  You can walk away, and live a normal life.”

Kurapika felt a noise in his chest, like an ironic laugh that didn’t quite make it past his lips.  Leorio was resolving just a little bit in his eyes, clear but soft and bright around the edges, glowing.  Whether that was an effect of Nen or his failing consciousness, Kurapika didn’t know.

He drew a breath and it felt ragged in his throat, rough and weary.  “I sent you the coordinates.  To my village.”

Leorio hesitated again.  “Good.  We can go there together.”

“I need you to take them–”

“You’ll take them yourself.  I’ll help you.  We’ll go together.”

“Leorio.”  Kurapika felt the shake in his voice through his entire body, hissing when he lifted his arm, moved his hand blindly until he came in contact with fabric–smooth cotton, a dress shirt cuffed up below his elbows, Leorio warm and vibrant beneath.  “Stop.  Let me go.”

Leorio did stop, for a fraction of a second, a look of sheer panic melting into rage, and the last thing Kurapika saw was the glitter of tears along the edge of his eyes before something struck his cheek hard enough to leave his ears ringing.

“Don’t you DARE–-don’t you EVER say anything like that to me again!”

Kurapika’s cheek stung, but the pain this time was sharp and real and it drew breath from his chest, shock and anger welling up into spaces he thought were finally devoid of emotion.

“I’ll never forgive you, do you understand?”  Leorio’s teeth were clenched, voice watery and rough with emotion, continuing his treatment of Kurapika’s wound roughly, like it was some kind of punishment.  “You’re so goddamn selfish, thinking you can just die now like it doesn’t matter!  Don’t you realize there are people in this world right now who love you?  The people who loved you before, the ones who are gone, they would want you to stay with us.  They would want you to live for yourself.  I promise you that.”

Kurapika didn’t move or respond for several minutes, watching Leorio, hand still weakly on his arm.  Something that felt like peace still called to him, somewhere in the void that hovered around the edges of the space he and Leorio occupied, beyond the glow of his presence that kept it at bay.  It seemed less like darkness, more of a melancholic gray, heavy like rain and asphalt.  Leorio was more like a shelter than a barrier, quietly anchoring him to reality, and Kurapika found, suddenly, that he felt grateful.

“You’re right,” he said, and the roughness in his throat seemed to have faded.  “I’m sorry.”

Leorio scoffed but there was no malice in the sound, nothing but worry and urgency in the set of his shoulders, bent over the wound without meeting his eyes.  “I’ll consider your apology later.  Just stay awake and keep talking.”

The corners of Kurapika’s mouth twitched, something soft and warm settling in his chest aside from the pain.  He remembered the feeling like an old friend–it had taken up residence sometime during the Hunter exam, and he’d taken pains to suppress it, to pretend it didn’t exist, until he almost believed it was gone.  It was a relief, in a way, to discover it had never left.

“That was a terrible way to confess,” Kurapika said, softly, and Leorio made a startled, high-pitched noise.

“Not about that!”  His head ducked down lower, burning red visible around his ears.  “Talk about something else.  Anything else.”

“It’ll be a long trip.”  Kurapika let his head drop back, relaxing, starting to make out the patterns in the ceiling overhead.  Starting to feel more than fog, to gain enough strength in his fingers to tighten them around Leorio’s arm.  “To the village.  We’ll have to take some time off.”

“I think we deserve a vacation after this,” Leorio muttered, offended, and Kurapika hummed around a weak laugh.


End file.
